WEEK THREE: Asian Horror and Murakami

Week Three: Asian Horror and Murakami

This week’s theme hit close to home for me. I am currently a senior illustration student and for my thesis I’m illustrating Murakami’s collection of short stories, The Elephant Vanishes. I have always enjoyed his writing style because of the deep metaphors hidden beneath the layers of text. Murakami’s work is so deeply allegorical that at times the metaphors seem almost nonexistent. He writes to make the reader think. Another common theme in Murakami’s work is that he combines the surreal with the real. I discuss this notion as well while talking about Andy Weir’s The Martian because there are elements of reality intermingling with the unknown. Wherein space opera combines reality with universal mystery, Murakami combines reality with spirituality and the surreal. 

I found a quote from Murakami that I feel appropriately describes the way in which he writes, “my style, my prose, is very easy to read. It contains a sense of humor, it’s dramatic, and it’s a page-turner. There’s a sort of magic balance between those two factors.” For me, this is part of the appeal. His writing strikes a certain chord that other authors tend not to play with. 

A Wild Sheep Chase follows Murakami’s style in a similar way. The characters are all chasing after something that is damn near difficult to capture because the thing they’re trying to capture is a metaphor in and of itself. This sort of intangible thing that resides somewhere deep within themselves and the world around them, and this thing that they are all after varies greatly from individual to individual, is dependent only on that person’s goals and aspirations. As the story progresses, we see a shift from truth to fantasy, not unlike the transitions that take place in Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. As we enter into a world we can understand, we begin to lose sight and consciousness of what should be. Murakami uses this segway in order to strengthen the power of his metaphors. 

I found two relevant quotes to Murakami and metaphor that I felt would be appropriate to share here: 

“Metaphors help to eliminate what separates you and me.”

“Everything in life is a metaphor. We accept irony through a device called metaphor and through that we grow and become deeper human beings. Irony deepens a person, helps them mature. It’s the entrance to salvation.”

The reason I include these quotes is because I feel it’s a big part of what separates Western and Asian literature. Western literature tends to spell things out for you, wherein Asian literature forces you to think about what you read and project your own experiences and thoughts onto the story.

WEEK TWO: Vampires and Love

Week Two: Interview With the Vampire

Vampires make up one of the largest horror motifs found in horror literature. They represent darkness, lust, blood, and the mystery of night. While vampires still embody the evil and repulsion of other villains (i.e. werewolves and monsters), they embody an alluring tendency that attracts both readers and the characters that they surround themselves with. This makes the vampire a more complex symbol in literature than meets the eye. 

Without having known anything about Interview With the Vampire, I have to say that it was not what I was expecting. I’m more familiar with vampires like Nosferatu, and Christopher Lee’s adaptations of Dracula. Anne Rice created a new type of vampire paved the way for a new generation of vampire fanatics. A demographic that can appreciate the intrigue of horror with the lust of an evil gentleman.

Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire helped to change the way that the public viewed vampires. She introduced a character that comes off as being suave with elegance, poise, and charm. It becomes hard for us in this day and age to even begin imagining a time when vampires were “evil,” thanks to Rice and novels such as the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Of course, Meyer’s vampires could not have existed without its ancestor, Rice’s vampire. We see vampires desiring more than just blood, we see them desiring love and happiness. Their circumstance has trapped them in a world of misfortune and misunderstanding. 

The evolution of the vampire continues, as the audience shifts from adults to young adults looking for books that peak their own interests. Rice created a vampire that, while evil, is still human. They still have human emotions and thoughts and want things that humans want. 

The dynamic of the vampire shifted after this. Horror was no longer meant only to instill fear in the reader’s minds but to introduce other emotions, emotions forbidden from normally being associated with such topics; lust, romance, and curiosity; all paired with the already established evil nature of vampires and villains themselves.

Week One, Frankenstein

Week One, Frankenstein and Mary Shelley and the Splendor of Gothic Literature

This week I decided to read Frankenstein. I was very pleasantly surprised by the book because while having always heard about it, I’d never read it. Prior to actually reading Frankenstein, I have watched Young Frankenstein, a favorite in my family, and I loved being able to now understand the subtle references in the movie. The story follows the life of Victor Frankenstein and his attempts to play God, only to find horror in his efforts.

I was really impressed by the maturity of the narrative, not only for the fact that it was written by a twenty year old. The contents of the story are unique, addressing a myriad of social issues and topics, and Shelley does this in a very interesting way. Topics are not cliche or overt but rather, webbed together into the workings of Victor’s life story and adventure. 

I think for me one of the most interesting takeaways is not about the plot itself but about the air that surrounds the novel. Specifically the fact that most people refer to the monster as Frankenstein, even though the monster’s name is not Frankenstein. That creates an irony in its relation to the story itself that I think is part of what this story really is. The monster represents parts of Victor, Victor is inside of this monster and as much as he hates that about his situation, he cannot run from it. It wasn’t even until his death that the trials they shared came to an end. Their relationship could be associated with a sort of Jekyll and Hyde duo. Still, the bond that ties these two characters together is forever, and because so many people refer to the monster as “Frankenstein,” we as the audience have trapped Victor there forever.